The great French philosopher Voltaire once said, "One great use of words is to hide our thoughts." However, it is because Wikileaks has done the opposite, and uses words to show our thoughts, I stand in firm negation of the topic "Resolved: Wikileaks is a threat to U.S. National Security." We believe this for three main reasons: First, that Wikileaks does not threat U.S. National Security, Second, We must look at Wikileaks as it is TODAY, and Third, Wikileaks Offers Benefits to National Security.

1)Wikileaks does not threaten U.S. national security

a)The pentagon says it doesn't threaten national security.
From Tom Coghlan and Giles Whittell, July 28, 2010, The Times (London)
" The Pentagon claimed that a preliminary review of the thousands of secret reports released by
WikiLeaks showed that they posed no immediate threat to US forces." The pentagon is the highest military authority, and even it says wikileaks is no threat.

b)Wikileaks published documents that shouldn't have been classified to begin with.
After the 9/11Commission reviewed the government's most sensitive records about Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, the co-chair of that commission, former Governor of New Jersey Tom Kean, commented that "three-quarters of what I read that was classified shouldn't have been" The Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel, over the past 15 years, has overruled agency secrecy claims in whole or in part in some 65% of its cases."

2)We need to look at wikileaks currently

a)Wikileaks is currently in shambles
According to Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times
Wikileaks is in tatters. The New York Times, a conduit for wikileaks' material, plans to cut out the middleman by opening its own secure digital channel for leaks of documents and other secrets. The public's interest in those cables has already petered out. Government secrets were leaked to the public long before Wikileaks came along, and that necessary corrective will continue long after the arrogant Assange and his website disappear.

b)Wikileaks now redacts sensitive material
A lawyer representing the whistle blowing web site Wikileaks says U.S. government officials have been given codes and passwords granting them online access to official U.S. government documents that Wikileaks so far has not published. Timothy Marusheski, a layer form Hattiesburg, Miss. Indicated that the reason wikileaks had taken these steps was to make good on its offer to try and work with U.S. authorities to remove from reports, published in the future by the web site, sensitive information that could put innocent lives in jeopardy. Because, wikileaks is currently weak, yet still protecting sensitive information, it is not currently a threat to the U.S.

3)Wikileaks even offers benefits to U.S. national security

A)Helps make U.S. more secure
According to Ed O' Keefe of the Washington post
"A memo sent this week to government security officials detail how they should conduct security reviews of sensitive or classified information as the Obama administration attempts to safeguard against future leaks to the information sharing web site wikileaks and other news organizations. Further instructions sent this week to top government security officials asks them to review the 100 questions to help assess what your agency has done or plans to do to address any perceived vulnerabilities, weaknesses, or gaps on automated systems in the post-wikileaks environment," according to the memo.

b)It helps to hold the Government accountable.
According to Reuters" Wikileaks its release of nearly four hundred thousand classified U.S. files on the Iraq war shoed 15,000 more Iraqi civilians died than previously thought. Uploaded on the Wikileaks website, the files detailed gruesome cases of prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces that the U.S. military knew about but did not seem to investigate." There is a distinct relationship between accountability and national security. According to the United States General Accounting office, "The obvious and continuing importance of homeland security to all Americans, creates a vital need to involve all branches of government in ensuring optimum performance and appropriate accountability of our homeland security activities. In fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities, congress retains its prerogative to engage in oversight on how the federal government as a whole and a range of federal entities are preparing to prevent and respond to future terrorist attacks." In summation, wikileaks helps the government be more accountable to itself, to make policies that strengthen national security.

So in conclusion, Wikileaks is not a threat to U.S. National Security because: First, it is not a threat to U.S. National Security, Second, Wikileaks, as it is today, is not a threat; and third, that it provides many benefits to U.S. National Security. Clearly, Wikileaks is using words to show our thoughts, which is an absolute necessity for the survival of our country.Report this Argument

Say that you live in an environment when there were people you barely knew and, and in some cases who you thought were friends were releasing your secrets. woild you not feel threatened. Would you not feel the need to do some thing to stop them ? It is for the reason that WikiLeaks applies this same situation to America that I must urge a pro vote. on to my argument.

I.)WikiLeaks disclosures undermine the confidentiality essential to the conduct of diplomacy.
A.)Confidentiallity is essential to proper conduct in diplomacy. When looking at the resolution you have to consider all of the ways the United States could be harmed by Wikileaks. THe loss of diplomacy with other countries whether the are allies or foes is definitley a factor. Edward Cody of The Washington Post on November the thirtieth in 2010 said , " WikiLeaks disclosures will make it harder for American diplomats to be honest in their assesments of political situations, and will inspire more hesitation on the grounds of diplomacy." He also quotes a senior US diplomat when
saying "diplomacy is built on secrecy."

B.) Diplomatic contacts are drying up as a result of WikiLeaks.

Guy adams from the independant on Dec., 2010 said " A mere 1,100 of the 250,000 documents obtained by WikiLeaks have so farbeen published, leading to fears that the unhelpful revelatios will continue for months to come, destabilizinng US relations with almost all of it's key allies and inflaming already tense situations in the middle east." He akso quoted another US senior diplomat in saying I n the short run , we're almost out of buisness... It's really bad and no one wants to talk to us."

II.) WikiLeaks disclosures threaten US national security by offering assistance to these terrorists.

A.) Disclosure of the terror targets list provides assistance to international terrorists
Janet Daley from London Sunday Telegraph on Dec. 12 said " There was a document that did include information of the sensitive kind: a list of soft targets (places that could be expected to be well-less protected) that the US considered vital to its national security . Many of these were non-military, including centers for the manufacturing of the small pox vaccine. The employees of these orginizations now find themselves sitting ducks for amatuer terrorists."

B.) WikiLeaks represents a clear and present danger to US national security. Mark Thiessen from American Enterprise Institute on August 3., 2010 said," WikiLeaks represents a clear and present danger to national security of the United States. If left unmolested, Assange will become even bolder and inspire others to imitate his example. HIs group is at this moment preparing to release tens of thousands of documents that WILL put the lives of oue allies and troops at risk."

C.) The Taliban has already stated that it will use WikiLeaks as a medium of gathering information.

Taliban representatives have already repetitively stated that it will use WikiLeaks as basically a black list. So they can learn the names of US allies if they are left uncencored. If WikiLeaks is giving assistance to the taliban and it's for these reason that I can only see a pro vote fromm the voters.

I do aplogize but Nat Quals has come up and I now won't have time to finish. If you wish we can start this again some other time, but I need to prep in FX. I am very sorry for the inconvenince, my coach has a tendency to tell us about huge tournaments about 8 days before it.

Reasons for voting decision: FAIL DEBATE, as both sides dropped out... (checking the voting period debates, from Least To Most votes. By giving this one, it won't be prioritized in the system anymore.)

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